Over the years it has been evident: great talents do not let themselves be limited to the form of a conventional band, but need more space and other talents to work out their creative ideas. To name but a few examples: Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One), Trent Gardner (Magellan, Leonardo), Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia) and Ian Parry ( ex-Vengeance, Elegy). In 1999 he released his first Consortium Project, which turned out to be the beginning of a trilogy, with a host of guest musicians. A year later, he released a follow up, Continuum In Extremis and now, three years later, the third part sees the light of day: Consortium Project III: Terra Incognita (The Undiscovered World).

Parry carries on the style of melodic power metal, again featuring Stephan Lill (Vanden Plas) on guitars. Newest Elegy member Joshua Dutrieux plays the keyboards on the album, and in the first song, "The Council Of Elders," he gets to show his talent already. The various songs show different styles of music, up tempo songs, ass kicking double bass, like "Reductio Ad Absurdum," mellow songs, with a pounding bass, like "White Sands (California Lighthouse)", which also features a female vocalist, unfortunately the accompanying press information did not say who, groovy stuff, like "The Seven Seas," which has really good keyboard parts, everything abundantly laced with the powerful vocals of Ian Parry. He has proven to be not only an excellent vocalist, but also a stunning composer, with the ability to write an interesting story and translate this to a fantastic musical concept.

My only "negative" comment is that at times the whole is very technical and lacks emotion. But that aside it is an impressive album and I can only say hats off to Ian Parry for this album. The production is very good, as is the artwork. All people involved in the album have each added their part to make it a strong, balanced album. Especially I would like to mention Joshua Dutrieux again, for his excellent keyboard work on this album, I love it! Of course Parry's vocals alone should be reason enough to buy this album, but the whole is very good and should appeal to all progressive metal fans.

Similar Bands: Elegy, Dream Theater

[This review originally appeared December 2003 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]